Kinectimals

Kinectimals is one of the launch titles for the new wonder peripheral for the Xbox 360, called Kinect. Kinect replaces the need for a controller by using a very clever camera that detects your body movement and a built-in microphone that understands your speech.  Kinectimals features gorgeous big cat cubs that you can interact with in so many ways, all by the usage of your body movement or vocal commands.  You can play with them, clean them, feed them and generally treat them like a virtual pet.  Without a doubt, the game is aimed at children of any age, so it was the ideal game to get a Ready-Up Junior to cast their critical gaze over.

Ready up Junior: Shannon

Age: 9

This is the first Kinect game you’ve played, what was it like?

Shannon: It’s easy to control and it is fun because you get to play with lots of wild cats. The Kinect is good because it gets all your movements and it’s really good how it picks up your voice well.  It’s actually really easy to use and I prefer it over using a controller, because with a controller there’s more chance of you smashing the telly, if it flies out your hand.

What is your favourite thing about the game?

Shannon: My favourite thing is that you get to play with wild animals and teach them tricks, play with them and take them to different places.  It looks really good, it looks like there is actually wind blowing about.  The cats look really good, the fur looks really fluffy, it looks like real fur.  It’s good that there are shadows too because it makes everything look real.  I just noticed that the water has reflections too!

You can play games with your cub, what are they like?

Shannon: They are really fun because you can teach it tricks and play with toys like footballs and skipping ropes.  You can play volleyball where you hit the ball backwards and forwards to your cub to see how many hits you can get. Volleyball is my favourite game and the highest score I’ve had is 16 hits.

You can take care of your cub too, tell us about that.

Shannon: When you are looking after your cub you have to brush it, pet it, feed it, give it drinks and wash it.  You can also put collars and pendants on them.  My favourite part of looking after my cub was brushing it because it makes it look all fluffy and you know you are looking after it.  I also like that when you clap your cub it purrs like a kitten and it’s cute.

What is your favourite part of the game?

Shannon: My favourite part of the game is teaching all the cubs to do tricks.  There are Tiger, Cheetah, Leopard and Lion cubs that you can play with and change between them at any time you like.  To get them to do a trick you can use your voice or actions for the cub to remember what to do.  My favourite trick is “Play Dead,” because when you do the action your cub sticks it’s tongue out and falls over, every time I see the cub do it, I laugh.

What did you not like about the game?

Shannon: There’s nothing that I don’t like about the game, I found it really easy to control, the actions and voice commands work amazingly.  Only, sometimes your cub doesn’t react, but mostly it does. It’s the best game I’ve played so far.

Final thoughts on Kinectimals?

Shannon: Kinectimals is a really good game and I could play it for ages and not get bored.  If there was another Kinectimals game it would be nice to see house pets or other animals.  It would be good to get if you couldn’t have a real house pet but the cubs just now are extraordinary.  Everyone should at least try the game because they would probably really like it and it would make them want to have a real wild cub as a pet. This is the best animal game ever.

Parent’s comment: It is really hard not to be taken in by the charms of Kinectimals, I’ve never seen such furry animals in a game, ever.  I am totally amazed at how well the camera works; it’s a joy to watch Shannon interact with the animals on screen with such ease.  I have to admit that it is a game that I really like to play, too. It is easy to get in to, visually astonishing and generally good, clean fun.  It is unusual for a launch game of any new peripheral to be of such high quality but Kinectmals bucks all trends with great aplomb.  If you are considering getting a Kinect, this should be at the top of the list of games to buy with it.  Charming, adorable, cute and impressive are a few words to describe it. We could rave about this all day but that would waste valuable time with our cubs.


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2 responses to “Kinectimals”

  1. Martin avatar
    Martin

    Shannon has now bested her volleyball score, 102! We have also found a remote control warthog jeep in the game, for all you Halo fans.

  2. Zoey avatar

    There’s a ghost from Halo too! So awesome 🙂

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